Old Mount Baldy Trail

Old Mount Baldy Trail is a 11.3 mile moderately trafficked out and back trail located near Mt Baldy, California that features a river and is only recommended for very experienced adventurers. The trail offers a number of activity options and is best used from June until October. Dogs are also able to use this trail but must be kept on leash.

dogs on leash

hiking

off road driving

trail running

bird watching

forest

river

views

wildlife

This trail was made in the 1880's by Dr. Fairchild and Dell, who envisioned an observatory on the summit. The idea never materialized, but over the years the trail became popular and was used as the main route to travel to the summit from Mount Baldy Village.
Trail begins at Mt Baldy Village and takes you through Bear Canyon, with its creek and rich canopy of Oak, Bay, Cedar, Fir and Pine. Bear Cyn emerges to open chaparral, which takes you to the ridge with an open Conifer forest and amazing views. You will climb the ridge for several miles and enjoy a treat of varied topography, shade, sun, and breathtaking views. After an incredible 6.5 miles and over 6000 feet of elevation gain, you will reach the Mount Baldy summit.

Take the 210 fwy, driving east, exit at Base Line Road. Turn left on Base Line, then right on Padua Avenue. Go to Mount Baldy Road and make a right, drive for about seven miles and you will reach Mount Baldy Village. The trail head is located just south of the visitors center in the Mount Baldy Church parking lot, across the street from the Mount Baldy Lodge.

There is limited free parking in front of and across the street from the visitors center.

A very intense workout. Hiked this one today 11/24/18. Some snow at the top and very icy in some areas i didnt have any hiking poles so it was scary to walk on ice dont recommend it (had to step on the rocks to pass through). I can say it was easier than San Jacinto, but probably because it was few miles shorter. Views throughout the entire hike are just amazing. No parking permit needed if you park on the street up the hill from the Ranger Station. Be fit if you plan on beating it at this time of the year.

2nd time up this trail. Started at 5:30am and finished within 6hr:17min... the hike is easier than Iron mtn but intense nonetheless. A good workout with amazing views of the sunrise over the 3Ts. Great training for C2C. Took 7l of water but only drank 4.5l. Highly recommended- but not for the leisurely stroll

Gershom S.

hiking

4 months ago

Brutal and gorgeous. Read the other reviews, you don't want to do this if you havent done San Gorgonio, San Jacinto etc. I met one other person on the trail who returned because of high winds on the Big Horn Ridge. By the time I made it that far the wind had calmed down somewhat and I plowed on. I made a detour to West Baldy - quite nice and completely deserted. I took it really slowly and had several breaks for snacks and some sketching, Took me ten hours in total.

This is a tough, rewarding hike. The three miles or so after Bear Flats are on a relatively steep grade and it is strenuous. It’s doable and safe, but you just have to pace yourself and take your time. Doing this hike near dawn would be preferable as the temperatures can climb in the afternoon. Also, I would recommend bringing poles for the descent—they’ll make your life a lot easier and slightly less painful. I hardly ever use poles, but I was glad I had them for the way down on this trail.

This trail is a lot less crowded than the Devil’s Backbone route, which is a plus. It seems a lot of people do it as a training hike for Whitney and Cactus to the Clouds. If you want to challenge yourself, I highly recommend it.

I consider myself a relatively experienced hiker, having done many of the smaller peaks in the San Gabriels without much of a struggle. But this trail surely handed it to me. The elevation gain is not to be taken lightly - I started struggling about 2 miles in! I’m a 26 y/o female and this hike took me a total of 5 hours on the ascent (I had some nasty blisters to deal with, so that may have added some time), and about 3.5 hours to descend. But man, did I feel accomplished when I reached the top - it truly is a rewarding hike if you’re looking for some inner strength! Highly recommend for those looking for a challenge.

I love this trail. It is a brutal, gruelling hike up with about a 6000ft elevation gain in under seven miles.

This route is way more steep than the Baldy Loop (Manker Flats, Devil's Backbone, ski lifts, the Notch restaurant, etc). None of that is on the out and back trail. But it sure is beautiful and considerably less crowded.

I found this trail by mistake after summitting Mt San Antonio from the Manker Flats/ Devil's Backbone route, then mistaking Old Baldy Trail (Bear Canyon Trail) for the Baldy Bowl Trail. By the time I noticed my mistake, I was well into the descent so I decided to just go with it. I didn't realize that meant ending up in Baldy Village, about two miles downhill from where we parked. But the owner of the Baldy Lodge restaurant kindly gave us a lift back up to Manker Flats.

I'm honestly so glad we made this wrong turn, because we saw the most gorgeous views here. And we didn't see a single person on our descent in April. I came back yesterday (this time beginning on Old Baldy Trail), and the incline is a beast! There is very little shade past the first 2 miles, so facter that into your time and water planning.

If you're a real hiking fanatic, I highly recommend trying this route up Baldy. It is very trying and equally rewarding!

It took me 4.5 hours to make it to the top of Mt. Baldy and 3.5 to make it back down to the Visitor Center (where I parked). I left my car around 5 am. Don't forget your Adventure Pass. Finding the trailhead in the dark was difficult. My all trails app wasn't working without signal for some reason. I thought I'm supposed to be able to view the map without service? Anyway, I followed Bear Canyon Rd. (paved) up past all of the homes and finally found the trailhead. Just FYI, it's about half a mile up the road. Starting out, the weather was very pleasant. I didn't have to worry about the heat on the way up. The views are magnificent, especially while the moon is still out and the sun is just starting to rise. The weather at the top was very comfortable. I didn't have to whip out a long sleeve or my hat and gloves. I used this hike to train for Mt. Whitney. If Mt Whitney is similar to this hike, I'm in good shape! I thought it was tough but not so much that I ever questioned my abilities or even desire to hike it in the first place. At times, I was hiking on the balls of my feet, so it's pretty steep in sections. I definitely recommend hiking poles for the way down.

this is the best hike in the LA area if u want pain, growth and amazing geography lesson. The duration of elevation gain is second only to cactus to clouds (cdc), i used this to prepare for Iron mountain which this hike gives u great views of along woth baden powell,ross,pine,dawson, Gorgonio and Jacinto, mt dissappointment just about everything in LA and san bernardino.

this hike takes time, strength, and patience do something else first if u are not absolutely sure of your ability. U will be completely exposed amd sweating all your sunscreen off if its hot keep that in mind.

I'm going to start off by letting y'all know I am not an extremely experienced hiker. I hike here and there but not very often. With that being said, Mt. Baldy is definitely a challenge and if it weren't for my husband pushing me and motivating me along the way, I probably would have turned around half way. It is steep and rocky but there a few areas that are flat. The views are beautiful and it's a great feeling when you reach the summit. Make sure that if you have bad knees, like me, that you wear your knee brace and take Ibuprofen and plenty of water and snacks. It took us 6 hrs to summit and 3.5 hrs to get back down. It's windy up there so make sure to pack a sweater or jacket.

Hiked from Mt. Baldy Lodge to the summit via Bear Canyon Trail on 4/16/18. Although I am an experienced hiker, this was one of the more challenging hikes I've ever done, probably due to the elevation gain of nearly 6,000 feet over 6.4 miles, and then suffering that a second time on the descent. By the time I got back to the lodge, I felt like I needed bilateral knee replacements, a shower, a hot meal, and a warm bed. Thankfully, I stayed in the Mt. Baldy Lodge the night before (so I was acclimated and well-rested) and the night after (so I got everything I needed except the knee replacements). Behold, IPA and Tylenol!

I left the trail head around 8am, just behind the church parking lot. It was about 60 degrees. The first mile or so was on a paved road, followed by a nice stint in the woods. After that, there was about 2 miles of grueling uphill switchbacks that almost caused me to give up because the loose gravel sucked! Eventually, I hit about the 4-mile mark, and I kept repeating to myself, "You didn't come this far to only come this far!" Onward, through bouts of gusty wind, a nerve-wracking precipice with steep drop-offs on both sides, and the occasional clear view all the way down to the Los Angeles valley. By the time I made it to the summit, it was almost 2pm, and it was freezing! I saw only one other person at the summit, and he was wearing such heavy gloves that I felt mildly jealous. We sat together for a time, talking about our routes and enjoying the intermittent clear views. The clouds would roll in, we would hunker down behind the manmade rock walls scattered about the summit, and then the clouds would roll away, and we could see for miles and miles. It was a special feeling.

The hike back down took almost half as long, so I returned to the village before sunset around 7pm. Be forewarned, the signs at the Visitor Center claim that the Bear Canyon Trail is only 8 hours roundtrip. I think that's true if you don't stop to catch your breath or enjoy the views at the top. Give yourself about 10-12 hours and take some warm clothing for the summit. All in all, it's worth it.

Hiked April 18th. As others stated this is a tough uphill climb and difficult downhill due to the loose rock and gravel on the steep slope. Less traffic on this route. Beautiful views after the first couple miles. Better views than the backbone-ski hut trail. Recommend this for others who have already done the busy Manker routes and looking for something more challenging. Don't underestimate this route.

This is the trail you want to utilize if you're looking to avoid the Hollywood hikers using Icehouse and Devil's Backbone. Beautiful views and many parts of this hike are quite pleasant despite the large elevation gain. Be extremely careful going down. Lots of loose rock to send you down the mountain if you aren't careful.

This is the only way I used to go to the summit of Mount Baldy before. I hiked it 12 times on this route. It’s a great trail for wintertime especially. Too hot and dry for summer. I even broke my leg on it in December 2012.

An amazing, but very hard hike. It starts out going up, then you reach a point after the Bear flats campground were it starts going more steeply up through some thick vegetation. When you reach the top of this section there a 3-4 new sections of up, the last one being the steepest. After this last climb you reach the saddle, and then it continues up, but not as steep for the last mile and a half to Mt Baldy. For me the last 2 miles to the peak were painful this time around, felt drained and pushed on on mostly willpower. Started as late as 11am and it got a little too hot, luckily it was cooler at higher elevations. The descent was super fast today, normally my knees will hurt, but they felt really good so I made it down quite fast without any suffering a little before 6pm. The views and scenery were stunning in the later afternoon light. Cool people on the trail. If you want to avoid some of the crowds from the ski lift and such, this is the trail to take.

TLDR: This hike is steep but reasonable. Excellent training hike for Cactus to Clouds. Harder than San Gorgonio (Vivian Creek) or San Jacinto (Marion Mountain or Deer Creek) imho, but not not by much.

The gate to the welcome center was closed, but there is parking on the street just to the right of the gate. There were signs instructing us pull in nose first. I displayed my pass on the rear view mirror.

The climb begins before you even make it to the trail head and does not let up until at least 3 miles into the hike. Even when it lets up, you're obviously still climbing, it's just not as steep. This works out nicely however because as the elevation starts to take its effect on your body, the climb becomes easier.

I would say the steepest sections are on par with Sturtevant Trail at Mt Wilson, the first mile of Vivian Creek at San Gorgonio or climbing the south side of Telegraph Peak on Three T's Trail. Point being its a good quad burning climb, but it's reasonable for a seasoned hiker. However, I would not recommend this trail to anyone who has not at least hiked Baldy via Ski Hut Trail or San Gorgonio from Vivian Creek. This is just my personal opinion, but this trail is harder than both of those. People use this as training for Cactus to Clouds or Whitney for a reason.

Around the time the incline lets up a little bit, the view opens up as well. There are excellent views of all the local peaks including Bighorn, Sugarloaf, Ontario, Cucumonga and the Three T's. As you near the summit, Harwood, West Baldy and Baldy come into view. And obviously from the peak you can see everything including San Gorgonio, San Jacinto, Santiago, Santa Catalina Island and even Boney Ridge in the Santa Monica Mountains.

As for the descent, I can't comment on the "out and back" route as my friend and I went back using Ski Hut Trail. It was his first time to Baldy (experienced hiker however) and he wanted to check out the sights Baldy Bowl had to offer. He was not disappointed. But I imagine if you went back down the way you came, trekking poles would be a HUGE help as some sections are rather steep and slippery, just like Ski Hut Trail.

No nonsense path to the summit.Started just before 6am and reached the summit at 10:30. The first 2 miles is a fairly easy walk from the church parking lot to Bear Flats, from that point the next 3.5 miles are the toughest with almost 4,000 feet of elevation gain. The total mileage recorded was 13.5 with a net elevation gain of 5,900 feet. It was very windy at the summit with sustained wind of about 20 miles per hour making the temperature feel like mid to high 30’s. The decent only took about 3 hourswith my total time on the mountain 8 hour and 15 minuets including breaks. This was my first time on this trail and I will definitely be doing it again in the future.

This hike is extremely taxing, both uphill *and* downhill. Don’t take it lightly! I’m bad about drinking water, and I routinely drink my full 3L supply by the time I return to the trailhead. But despite the fact that this hike is very difficult, I do enjoy it. The topography changes are dramatic, and the hike isn’t too busy so it’s quite peaceful.

The Bear Canyon/old baldy trail was a tough one compared to the other more crowded trails to Mt Baldy, I loved the lack of people, although I met a few nice hikers and had a few inspiring chats along the way. Headed down the Bear Canyon trail for the descent as well, something I will prob not do again, the descent was hurting to much on my knees, even with hiking poles. Overall I felt this hike was harder than the San Gogonio trail I did from Vivian Creek two weeks ago, mostly because of the descent.

One of the harder ones for me. Of course my wife Rosa had no problem with Baldy.(She's done Whitney several times) Small group, we ate breakfast after hiking up to the Lodge. We took a few hours to summit. I was pretty spent. We went hiked back to the Lodge and rode the lift down to the parking lot.

If you wanna test yourself you should defenetly check this trail out.I was looking for a challenging trail and I found it.I started at 8:40 AM from the church parking lot. The temperature that day was about 77 at the bottom and 67 at the top.First 4K were easy, I thought I gonna reach the top in 2-3 hours. The sun was rising higher, the temperature was increasing. From 4K to 7K it felt a bit hot. When I reached the pines the wind was cooling. The hike became more enjoyable. The scenery closer to the top was stunning.With comfortable pace, taking brakes, enjoying the view it took me 4.5 hours to get to the summit and 3.5 hours back to the village.

David B.

hiking

Tuesday, August 15, 2017

Started off at 5:20 am on the Bear Canyon - Old Baldy Trail. Temperature was about 67 degrees. Carried 17 lbs pack with 1.5 gallons of water to prepare for Cactus to Clouds. Reached the summit at 9:05 am. and had consumed 1 liter of water, and no food. My second time doing this, and it still feels like an unrelenting slog. Was windy and about 55 degrees at the top, but I had my shirt off during the entire ascent, and I was warm enough to keep it off for 10 minutes while enjoying the view. Good crowd of about 20 had already made it to the summit from Baldy Bowl and Devil's Backbone. Only 2 others I recognized from Bear Canyon ascent.

Descended back the same way, and it warmed up quickly. I actually consumed more water on the way down (1.5 liters) as the temperatures rose to 92 degrees. Returned by 11:50 am. Saw a lot of folks coming up, and I was aching to think how the climb must feel as the temperatures were rising.

Interesting to see several large groups of 10 or more Korean hikers. Is Seuk Doo Kim their inspiration?

Really nice hike close to LA! So many people do either the devils backbone or the more direct Baldy Bowl trail as a training hike for Mt Whitney but honestly, this is the one to do. I just completed it starting from the road and alltrails had me at 12.1 miles with 5,830' of gain. Whitney really isn't a super hard hike, it's just long. If you can do this and reach the summit in about 3h and 45m or less, then you'll have no problem with Whitney. This trail maintains a steeper ascent than Whitney, although it still has some flat(er) spots throughout - particularly during the last 2 miles to the summit. I started at 6am and reached the summit in 2h 40m. The first 1.5 is pretty pedestrian and then you start to climb. Definitely try to reach the summit before the sun heats up everything. By 10am it already gets pretty hot and the less water you have to bring - and the less sunscreen you have to apply - the better. Views in the morning are really enjoyable, so don't forget to soak them up!

Excellent training hike! We did this hike on July 1st. We staged a car at Manker Flats then drove back down to the trailhead. Parking is on the street (inside the white lines) and it fills up pretty quickly. There is also a dirt lot about a 1/4 mile up the road on the left. I began tracking the hike at the Church parking lot. It took us just under 5 hours to summit. It was almost 7 miles and the elevation gain was about 5400'. This trail is steep, so make sure you are ready for the challenge. There are two miles where the elevation gain for each is just over 900' and one mile where the elevation gain was just over 1300'. We came down the Ski Hut trail, it too was steep but shorter. Our total miles for this hike were 11.31. I would not recommend this for anyone who is a beginner or has never hike Baldy before.